Father's Day Sweatshirt Blanket

I spent the bulk of Father's Day driving Annie to Buckeye Girls State.

Buckeye Girls State is a week-long program designed to educate Ohio's young women in the duties, privileges, rights, and responsibilities of good citizenship. By getting involved in the process, BGS delegates learn more about city, county, and state government in one week than they will in an entire semester of high school.

It was strange to drop her off in a college dorm....a bit of a preview for things to come.

Unable to plan much for the day, I threw a pork roast in the slow cooker and we shared dinner with our neighbors.

Who can resist a father and his little boy? The plan was to take photos of my husband with the new blanket Annie and I made for him. But by the time I got around to taking photos, the guys were sweaty from playing a Frisbee game. But my husband was thrilled with this lightweight, sweatshirt blanket!

The pattern is the Big Softee from Sew4Home. (So many fantastic projects on their website!) The sweatshirt fleece is from Fabric.Com. It is a 100% cotton, organic sweatshirt fleece. It's really soft and it is a lightweight sweatshirt. I think it would make a fantastic backing for my T Shirt blankets - especially for customers in warmer climates. The navy blue was back-ordered so I purchased a yard from Joann. The navy at Joann's is 100% cotton, although it was slightly thicker than the other colors.

Annie and I tag teamed the project. It worked up quickly. It's always a bit challenging sewing with knits. Use the proper needle and try not to stretch the fabric.

The above photo shows the back side of the blanket. The construction method involves flat-felled seams. It was unclear to me whether or not we were supposed to fold the seam on the back, which is the normal method. But, since knits don't ravel, we simply pressed the seam down and stitched it. That is how the hem is created all the way around - folded under and top stitched with a double needle. Also, when making a flat-felled seam, you sew the fabric together using a 1/2" seam. Then you trim one of the seam allowances so the other seam allowance can be folder and stitched over the smaller one. I had the realization that it would have been easier to just sew the seam in an offset manner. In other words, place the fabric, right sides together, but move the top fabric over 1/4" so that you don't have to trim the fabric.

 My husband is thrilled with it and he gave strict orders to the kids that it was his!  I wish we had an outdoor couch that he could take a nap on and that we could sit and relax on.

Speaking of blankets, I completed this 25-Block T Shirt Blanket.   This blanket is backed with a sweatshirt fleece and I used the fleece to self-bind the blanket. Although it is not for a father, this would make a great Father's Day blanket! It's a little heavier and it's a great size for two to snuggle under!

Summer has been slow starting here in Cleveland. We've had a lot of rain, low clouds, and mugginess. I hope your summer is off to a good start!

Win a Craftsy Quilting Class! Giveaway of Quilt-As-You-Go Patchwork Bag Class.

I am so excited to team up with Craftsy to giveaway a Craftsy class on my blog! Have you taken a class at Craftsy? You need to explore all the classes that they offer. I've talked about a few classes I've taken in the past. There are some free classes and for fee classes. I am signed up for the Coutoure Dress class and the Pant Fitting Techniques class. I am in progress in the Pant class and I love it. Not only can you take it at your own pace but you can replay portions as necessary.

My mom did not sew yet I loved to sew as a child. I sewed by hand using any materials I could get my hands on. Sometimes my dolls were clothed in wallpaper dresses!  I received my first sewing machine as a gift from my husband when my oldest son was born. Sewing was, then, such a creative outlet. I enjoyed sewing during naptimes and evenings. (That seems like a lifetime ago....life with four teens does not have nice little pockets of sewing time. But, boy, do I need my sewing for my sanity now!)

Everything I learned about sewing was learned from books or classes. I always loved school and being in a sewing class gives me the same kind of thrill that going to school did. Summer is a great time to learn a new skill and would be a perfect time to take a quilting class at Craftsy! Even better, it is a great time to WIN a quilting class from Craftsy!

Have you heard about the Quilt-As-You-Go method? It is really fun. The class starts with how to make a potholder so you can get familiar with the technique. And then you move on to the construction of the adorable bag shown above! There is such a lovely, meditative rhythm when you quilt. (If you have teens, you definitely need meditation!) It's also a great way to use up some of your fabric stash!

It's easy to enter the contest. Hope over to Craftsy using this link and enter your information. Even if you already have a Craftsy account, you can still enter by using your existing login information. (If you have any trouble seeing the giveaway page, using Firefox should help.)

One entry per person.

Giveaway ends June 30st.

Winner will be selected by random number, notified by email and the class will be entered in your account!

Enter the giveaway.

Upcycled T Shirt Tote

I'm really excited to share this tote with you today. I had a customer who had bought several quilts return to me to create a tote with this shirt. I love repeat customers! It suggests that I am doing something right. She reminded me that her daughter, Jordan, was named after Michael Jordan!

My bags keep evolving. My upcycled bags started with my Sweatshirt Tote Tutorial and this T Shirt Tote Tutorial.

This shirt was much thinner to start. I bounced a few ideas off my customer. The bag is for her daughter who will turn 21, so I enlisted Annie's help to pick some fun fabrics. There is a bit of silver in the 23, so we picked out a silver fabric and the pindot fabric.

I filled in the V with the silver and added the black to the sides and bottom. I interfaced the shirt lightly because I wanted it to be a hobo style bag. I added an outside pocket and inside pockets as well as a magnet closure. For the inside I used some leftover sweatshirt fleece with a bit of the silver fabric. It was fun to take the ideas in my mind and create as I went.

I was inspired by this pattern for a reversible hobo bag  to make the straps separate so that they could be tied long or short.

Long, it can be worn cross-body.

And short, as a shoulder bag.

I have more bags in the queue for a very patient Etsy friend! Stay tuned!

Remembering a Father for Father's Day

I had a customer contact me and told me that her dad died last year. Her mother got rid of all of his clothes without her knowing.  All she had left was a pair of jeans and shoes that had been left at the hospital.

Twenty messages ensued (that is typical with my custom orders.) She was unsure what could be made so I shared ideas. There is a lot of fabric in a pair of pants when you cut along the inseam.  We decided on a pillow. She selected a home decorator fabric for herself and a separate fabric for her daughter. We had enough fabric to make a third which she is giving to her sister.

I thought it would be nice to keep the pocket on the front. For my customer, I had enough denim to put on the front and back. For the other two, I simply used the home dec fabric for the backing.

Hearing the words "father" and "hospital" brought back memories of my dad's final months and the time spent in hospitals. It's a tough time. But I hope that these pillows bring happy memories of times spent with a cherished father.

If you have questions about custom pillows, please contact me.   I have two listings on my Etsy shop for different kinds of memory pillows: button-down shirt style and T shirt style.  These listings are starting points. Feel free to discuss options. My pillows are actually pillow cases - the customer purchases the pillow.  (That is why this pillow looks a little flimsy. I didn't have enough pillow inserts in the proper size.)

I always consider it an honor to create memory items for my customers.

Typewriter Love

I think my first love was the typewriter. We had an old one in our attic which i used to play with all the time. We all used it to type up letters and reports. (Well, I doubt my brothers used it much. They either paid one of us to type their papers or had a girlfriend to it....)

I had a toy typewriter. It was blue plastic and, looking back, I think it was my favorite toy growing up. You might remember the typewriter bags Annie made me. So when I saw this fabric at Hawthorne Threads I decided I needed it.

My youngest son graduated from 8th grade and I felt I wanted to give a parting gift to his teachers. I used this pattern to make these zippered pouches from Noodlehead.  I used twill tape and added a key clip.

I grabbed as many zippers as I could find in my stash and love the contrast color!

I've had typewriters on the brain lately. I remember my friend Liz from Made In Lowell (her blog is Mill Girl) talking about having her typewriter serviced at the same time David McCullough's typewriter was being serviced (at least, I think that's how the story goes.) Can you imagine? The shop is Cambridge Typewriter  and check out the blog, too! Isn't it fun just to see the typewriter fonts?

I went in search of our old typewriters in my mom's basement. But I bet we tossed them long ago. Recently, Annie brought home her artwork (which will be a separate post) and I saw her print, which made me think about the print I made in high school.

Yes, there it is! Our old typewriter! I am thinking that it might make a fun print for a bag and hope to play around with it.

Do you have a typewriter lurking around your house - or perhaps one that is still in use? I'm jealous if you do!

Memories, Pillows and the Merry Month of May!

Do you know how crazy you have to be to be a Cleveland sports fan? Well, let's just say, Bill Belichick used to couch the Browns before he was run out of town and proceeded to win a million super bowls. Or that guy LeBron James....well, you have heard about him perhaps. We have all the good players and coaches, until they move on to the good teams!

So we have lots of memorabilia that doesn't quite make sense....like the Brady Quinn Browns jerseys in our closet....or this Jim Thome baseball shirt.

But this shirt belonged to a wonderful woman and mother to my friend. She still had the shirt and is giving it to her nephew, the son of her late brother. So this shirt is chock full of memories - more than just memories of when Thome played for the Indians. A perfect shirt to turn into a memory pillow.

That book, Baseball Americana, we picked up as a gift for my son. It's a nice book filled with great photos.

The month of May is madness for me. It is filled with concerts, the start of baseball, track meets, end-of-year picnics, college kids moving back in, a grade school graduation, and the busiest season for my business.

Oversized Beach Tote in custom color.

I am blessed and fortunate to be working with my hands every day. My business has grown steadily and at a pace that enables me to still manage my family life (albeit with a little more dust....) I am trying to find the best ways to balance my time and be more productive. Sometimes I am working late into the evening, but that's because a chunk of my day was needed for homework or cooking or general running around. But I am grateful to be working full-time doing what I enjoy! Maybe, at 50, I have finally figure out what I want to "do with my life."

Here's to summer!

Baby Memories in Blanket Form

Because I haven't bombarded you enough with blankets......but who can resist baby stuff? (Especially when your baby is soon-to-be 14!!!) It is so much fun to go through  the baby clothes and see all the sweet and special onesies and shirt quotes. How quickly they grow. This blanket has an ultra-plush backing. I have used chenille and minky for these as well. There seems to be no white chenille in the world right now. We've had discussions on our Etsy Sewing board. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it will be a problem if my customers want that backing.

I hope you are well and I am sure, if you have school-aged children, you are in the thick of end-of-the-year concerts, award ceremonies and graduations. Enjoy!